


Please don't say I'll never find a way

by punchdrunkpoet



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 18:45:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16749604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punchdrunkpoet/pseuds/punchdrunkpoet
Summary: Lena 'overachiever' Luthor not only cures Kara Danvers' cancer, she gives her superpowers by accident.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> In response to an anon bossbeth got on tumblr

Lena stood in the doorway for a moment, watching. Treatment room A looked smaller with somebody in it. Sitting on the hospital bed inside was lena's subject. Her first human test subject. She had, of course, fielded countless applicants for her cancer research study.

It broke her heart again and again to be seen as somebody's last hope, and to turn them away. In the end, what drew the Luthor heir to her chosen applicant was the absurdly happy hopelessness that Kara Danvers brought with her application...

"Thank you."  
"I'm sorry?"  
"I said 'Thank you,' Miss Danvers"  
"Please, call me Kara, and why are you thanking me? I'm not the brilliant scientist whose experiments might cure cancer!"

Lena paused.

"Miss Danvers, I thought you I understood, the treatment I provide is purely research and I cannot predict how your body will respond." 

"Nah, I know that. I dont mean you're gonna cure my cancer, cause let's face it, doc, I'm toast. But I get to contribute to your research and after reading about your work, gosh I think if anyone can cure cancer, you can" 

...

Kara watched as Doctor Luthor taped around her newly installed iv port, and tried to distract herself from the hands currently grazing her abdomen. "I'm glad you have short nails," she says with a smile. 

Lena fixed her with a curious gaze. 

"Care to elaborate, Miss Danvers?"

"Kara. And well it's nice when doctors hands are nice. I've seen so many over the last few years and I hate long nails on a doctor and it's funny cause I always think lady doctors are gay cause they have short nails but I think they just pay more attention to it than dudes or nb-....I'm rambling, sorry" 

"Dont be sorry, it's cute. And I agree about the nails. Though I may be bias," at this she held her pale hand aloft. Though Kara missed the warmth against her side. She welcomed the opportunity to ogle those hands freely. 

"Well that's funny," Kara shot finger guns "cause I'm bi"

"And an ass?" Lena's hand shot up to her mouth "oh my God I'm so sorry that was so inappropriate. It sounded like something my Sam would say."   
Kara snickered then regained composure when she saw her doctor frozen in embarrassment. "No dont apologize. I can be an ass and it was the funniest response to a coming out that I've ever heard." 

"Really? Well you'll appreciate that my father, without looking up from his paper, said 'well, you get the attraction to women from me."

"Ahh so 'Sam' is a Samantha!" Kara grinned wildly.

"Yes, why do you-oh! Oh God no. Sam and I aren't together, I just got her pregnant!" Lena's polite smile fell at the same moment her face turned red. She began to explain about fertility experiments but Kara's laughter overpowered her flustered state and their laughter fluttered together in the stale air of a sterilized room.   
.  
.  
.  
"Lily? No you're not a Lily. Hmmm Luann is too southern belle. Leah? No too biblical. Lydia? Lucy?"  
"What? What are you talking about? You better not be encephalopathic."  
"What? No I'm just trying to figure out your first name. I saw on your dissertation, and everywhere really, just the initial, 'L.'"

A small smile teased behind Lena's eyes: "well my mother always told me names have power." She hesitated. "My real mother. Not Lillian." 

"I was adopted too." 

"Really?" 

"Mmhmm!"

"Well lay back, fellow adoptee, I'm beginning the first 20min round of intravenous therapy." 

The silence they shared was contemplative. Lena took notes on the monitors' readings, and Kara untangled her earbud cable and watched her, carefully averting her eyes when Lena glanced her way. 

"Hey. Hey, Doc."  
"Yes, Miss Danvers?"   
"Kara. You can call me Kara, doc."  
"Did you need something?"  
"Yeah, I've got a question."

Lena put her clipboard down and looked Kara in the eyes. In her green and blue eyes that were at once cool and beckoning. She blinked and reprimanded herself. "I might have an answer" she replies

Kara clears her throat and sat upright in her bed, crossing her legs under her blanket before singing loudly: 

"What'll you do when you get lonely  
And nobody's waiting by your side?  
You've been running and hiding much too long.  
You know it's just your foolish pride.

Layla, you've got me on my knees.  
Layla, I'm begging, darling please.  
Layla, darling won't you ease my worried mind."

In that instant, Lena's blush became Kara's favorite color. 

"Did you just write that? That was. Well I know nothing about music but that was marvelous" 

"Doc. Doc no, that's Eric Clapton. And since you've never heard that song," Kara flumped back against her pillows, "I'm assuming your name isnt Layla." 

Lena chuckled and shook her head in a gentle answer. 

"So I'm here for 15 more minutes? And you're hanging out with me during?" Kara asked absently, her hands returning to the tangle of earbud cords. 

She looked up to find doctor luthor's hand held out in expectation, and handed off the earbuds as she got her reply: 

"Yes, and I'll be here with you during every treatment session." Her tongue poked out just a smidge as she untangled the cable with ease. 

"Well then you need to know who Eric Clapton is" Kara grasps the hand offering her untangled earbuds, "come on, have a seat. We're gonna start with the Yardbirds and go from there, not-Layla." 

Lena means to say 'No thank you, Miss Danvers, I prefer to monitor your systems' she means to keep her distance. To respect Kara's boundaries. Instead she takes an offered earbud, now playing rock music and hears herself reply "Thanks Kara." She can feel Kara smiling at her and can't help the tease of a smile that splashes her own eyes. 

 

Kara is halfway out the door that Lena insists on waking her to when she hears the smallest murmur "its Lena, by the way" She can't be sure she's head correctly or if she's just lightheaded from the treatment. Regardless of the impetus, she spends the ride home listening to Clapton and considering the name 'Lena.' Clapton should've sang abt Lena, not Layla she thinks. She thinks about alabaster hands and dark hair and that bright smile and she turns the name over and over in her mind like a riverstone in her hand.


	2. Chapter 2

"Uh. Doc I have a question."  
"Are you going to serenade me again, Kara Danvers?" Lena's severe brow was undermined by her slight smile. 

"Its a medical thing, actually."  
Lena donned a pair or reading glasse, took out her ever present pencil, and picked up her clipboard. Kara smiled at the show of preparation. "I feel good."

"That's not a question, Miss Danvers." 

"Sure but it is strange. I mean I have more varieties of cancer than my deli has kinds of cheese. I shouldn't feel good, right?" 

Lena slowly rocked her pencil between two fingers. "Could you describe this 'feeling good'?"

"Hmm. Well befire I got sick I was a reporter, so when I was feeling good, I was stressed and under pressure all the time. So my standard for feeling good is low. But I can take full breaths without any pain. My appetite had increased. I have a sex drive again, I gained some weight back and I actually had the energy to go to the gym yesterday." 

Lena finished her notes and looked back at her patient. "I'd like to run a series of tests in addition to your treatment sessions this week, are you free this evening or would you like to reschedule."

"Lena, its Friday night."   
Lena squinted. "That seems like a 'no.'"  
"You dont have any plans?"  
"I do. I plan on curing cancer."  
Kara chuckles at that. "Alright I'll make you a deal. I'll be your guinea pig until 7, but you're going out with me when we're done."   
Lena says nothing, and extends her hand for a quick handshake to agree, then turns on her heel to prepare for the tests  
...  
"Shit" Kara says it so quietly that Lena is only sure she heard it the second time. "Shit!"  
"Are you alright? Are you fatigued? I can take you home. Are you al- "  
"Lena."  
Lena takes a few breaths.   
"I'm fine, doc. This guy just walked in who I loathe and who wont stop pursuing me."   
"Is it the guy across the bar who looks like Axe body spray smells?"  
Kara chokes on her Shirley Temple and nods as she laughs.   
"Ugh I swear he could sense me having a good time and showed up to try and exploit my kindness." Lena took a sip of her whiskey, and smiled at Kara's tepid vitriol. 

"Kara. AxeFace coming over here."  
"Shit. Shit. Shit-Hey Mike! Hey have you met Lena? Shes my. Uh. G-." Kara stops just short of pulling Lena into a lie she didnt sign up for. Lena, however, finishes her sentence. "Girlfriend. I'm her girlfriend. In a gay way. Nice to meet you Mike, we're going to go make-out now."

Kara, slack-jawed, feels Lena pull her towards a dimly lit booth. "Thank you and I'm sorry"

"Please, darling, that was the most fun I've had in ages. Next to actually making out with a beautiful girl, of course." Kara makes a mental note to ensure Lena has more fun.

They order drinks and share anecdotes for some time, then Kara looks over Lena's shoulder and frowns. "Hey. Would you kiss me if Mike was watching us and seemed unconvinced we're dating"

"He wouldn't have to be watching." Lena mumbles into her snifter  
"Oh"  
"Kara"   
"I think-"  
"Kara"  
"No let me say thi-"  
"Kara!"  
"Yes?"  
"Are you floating a little bit?"  
Kara looked down in shock to find that she was hovering above the booth seat by an inch and a half.

"I think so?"  
"Okay. I either need to sober up, or get something a lot stronger."


	3. Chapter 3

"I hate to ask this, but since you're the sober one, could you make me some green tea?" Lena gestures towards a lounge and Kara pulls her along by the arm.  
"Sorry, doc, I'm not leaving you alone with your cancer toys while I make you tea. You wanna sit on that couch?" Lena only leans into Kara's supporting arm and kara cant help but smile. She sets lena on the couch and slips her arm away.

"Lena? I have your tea."  
Lena mumbles the tone of a 'thank you' and sits up without opening her eyes.  
"Woah. This is good tea. Are you feeling good about making tea cause..." she trails off into a sip.  
"Its all in the temperature and timing, or that's what my sister always told me."  
"Alex. Right?"  
"Yeah! Thanks for remembering. Alex works for some government agency she can't tell me about but it's something hardcore cause she's always drinking that tea before bed."  
Lena finishes the cup and replies "green tea before bed? She is hardcore."  
"What? No it helps her sleep?"  
Lena sits a little more upright. "Kara. No. Green tea is caffeinated. It'll hit me aaaany moment now." She yawns and Kara cringes.  
"Um. It might not."  
"Hmm?"  
"Well the green box has the sleeping bear with the nightcap and I-"  
Lena opens her eyes more and Kara finds herself lost in deep swirls of green "Kara Zorel Danvers. Did you give me sleep time tea?"  
"Yeah! That's what the other name is. Gosh! I'd forgotten."  
Lena groans her disappointment and tries to stand, but trips towards Kara.

Kara catches her and scoops her up easily before setting her on the couch long ways.

Lena manages to grumble 'google green tea' before she begins to drool on her white couch.

Kara brushes her hair away and pulls out her phone. 10 embarrassing but educational minutes later, she retrieves some makeup wipes from her own purse.

"Lena, hey. Lena. Can I take your makeup off? I dont think you'd want to sleep in it." Lena hums her approval.

Kara gently wipes Lena's face, and spots away mascara and eye makeup more expensive than her own rent.

Barefaced, deep asleep, and bathed in incandescent light, Lena has never looked more beautiful. Kara tilts Lena's chin up begins to gently remove the deep red lip color. Absently, she wonders what her lipstick kisses would look like. Kara's fingers ghost over Lena's lips, an incomplete promise. She sighs, lays on the rug near the couch, and falls asleep cherishing the feeling of Lena's warm lips on her fingers.


	4. Chapter 4

Kara awakes to Lena mumbling “what the fuck.”  Her watch reads 5am and she’s surprised at how rested she feels. With less effort than she anticipated, she stands, then spots Lena across the lab.  She’s wearing a pair of slippers with her lab coat, and her hair is in a disheveled but high ponytail.  Kara does her best not to swoon on sight.

“Lena? Everything okay?”   
Lena doesn’t speak but keeps her eyes trained on a double set of screens, which are relaying all manner of medical jargon. Kara approaches slowly but Lena still startles when she touches her arm.

“You’re awake. Good. We’re running more tests.” Her eyes have a wild desperation in them, and Kara aches to calm her.   
“Hey. We can run some more tests, but first you’re gonna take some deep breaths and tell me what’s going on.”

Lena looks at her with affection and tears in her eyes. “I screwed up, Kara.  I thought I had gotten it correct enough to move on to a second human trial.” Kara looks at her in confusion but she barrels forward “I tried to do it on myself again, but the treatment made it so that no cancer can grow ever again and so I couldn’t re-infect myself and I-“  
“Lena. Slow down. What are you talking about? When did you have cancer? I thought I was the first human trial.”

Lena shifted her feet and shuffled her papers before speaking in a soft voice:   
“Evan O’Neil Kane was a surgeon who revolutionized the way we think of and use local anesthesia. He took out his own appendix when he was sixty years old. It was important to him to know what amount of pain a patient would be in with local anesthesia. He was his own test subject. And did you know that Barry Marshal, who drank a beaker of Helicobacter pylori to give himself an ulcer and prove it was ingestable, he’s only 67.”

  
“Lena,” Kara begins, with shock, anger, and admiration swirling in her lungs all at once.  


“After the animal trials, I gave myself cancer. I found a way and I contracted 7 different kinds, just to be sure. My treatment worked on me. But Kara. I overcharged the photovoltaic properties I imbued into the hypodermis and now you…god Kara I’m sorry. I cured your cancer-“She’s cut off by a kiss. Kara. Kara is kissing her. Kara is kissing her and wrapping strong arms around her and it’s too much and not enough and all too soon she feel herself push away the woman whose life she’s probably just ruined. “No, Kara. Listen you need to listen-you have, well, you have superpowers.  Right now it looks like flying, super strength, and the spot where you drooled on my rug last night was ice, so add freeze breath. God. I’m so sorry, Kara, you’re gonna have to be so so delicate touching everything and-oh god I kissed you and you’re my patient-“ what finally stops her rambling is actually Kara laughing.

“Geez, doc, I didn’t know you were capable of talking so much. Or being nervous. I find both traits cute, though, don’t worry.”   


Kara picks her up by the hips and deposits her on a table so that they are eye to eye. “And since you cured me, I’m not your patient. Besides. I know how to be gentle. But I’m more than happy to prove that to you.”

Lena remembers to breathe and takes a moment to compose herself. “Well. I do prefer to test new results first hand.”

Their hands intertwine as a new chapter, one Kara was sure she would never know, dawns on their lives.


End file.
